A Eulogy to my Grandmother

She loved hibiscus
She loved doing the crossword,
In every magazine she could get her hands on
She read everything,
Knew more about this big world right from her beautiful little house
She loved to write, said it helped keep her mind clear and sharp
But she was also creative at it;
At beautifully weaving words into poetry, essays and stories
She was a great story-teller, and for a very long time I refused to eat if she wouldn’t tell me a story during lunch time
Tamil was her passion
And with passion she taught us all, grounded us to our mother tongue
She loved God
But it was more about moral knowledge and faith
In fact she loved all the Gods
She loved picking jasmine for them and praying in the morning 
She loved routine and discipline
She would have made the greatest teacher on the planet
It’s what she wanted to be
She and I used to joke about how her name meant freedom,
But all her life that was what she lacked
She was still the first teacher for many-
Siblings, children, nieces, nephews, grand-children, great grand children
Looked after five generations
She was the definition of simplicity
She knew about sustainability, minimalism and clean-living even before it was a thing
She lived by it
She never spoke about things she did not know
But she was always learning, ALWAYS
Till her very last day
She loved making tea with a lot of spices
And a mango bite after every lunch
She was not too fond of cooking
But giving us food was the first thing she did when we came over
She was soft spoken
But everyone went to her for advice
She faced multiple horrific tragedies in her life
Yet she seemed like the pillar of the family
She was my confidante
Even though we were from different generations, and worlds apart
She was way, WAY ahead of her time
The world would have benefitted ten times more if she was given more opportunity and freedom
She knew exactly how to take care of you when you were sick
Her one big regret she told me was leaving my mother’s side for a week when she was sick
She was the best person I ever knew in my short 28 years
Setting the standard for what one’s moral compass should be like
I can go on and on
And no words would be enough because
She was an ocean of a person
And no one knew the depths of her
She was full of love for sure, for everything and everyone
And her wisdom knew no bounds
We need to now do justice to her life, love and teachings, and
Honor her in the best way we can and know.
I love you maamy
And I know you are kindly scolding me from up there for writing this in English 😂
But I’m going to argue with what you taught me, and say love has no language
You are at peace now, and that gives me comfort